Week 1 | Sept 8th Introduction to information visualization What is information visualization and what is at stake?
Required reading:
Paola Antonelli - "States of Design 01: Visualization"in Domus
Recommended Reading: The Information Design Handbook: A need for Information Design, Information Design Defined (Ch. 1&2)
Week 2 | Sept. 15th A brief history of visualization How does information visualization extend out of traditional graphic design and visual communication?
Required reading:
Edward Tufte "Graphical Practice" in The Visual Display of Quantiative Information (pg. 13-51) PDF
Stephen Wolfram - "Advance of the Data Civilization: A Timeline" Visualize This: Telling Stories With Data (Ch. 1)
Recommended Reading: The Information Design Handbook: ID History (Ch. 3)
Case Study: The Minard Map
Week 3 | Sept. 22nd Handling data What is data? What are the protocols and common formats we will encounter in working with it?
Required reading:
David Levy - "Meditation on a Receipt" in Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in a Digital Age (pg. 7-20) PDF
Alan Liu - "Transcendental Data: Toward a Cultural History and Aesthetics of the New Encoded Discourse" in Local Transcendence (pg 209-236) PDF Visualize This: Handling Data (Ch. 2)
Recommended Reading: The Information Design Handbook: Communication Principles for ID (Ch. 5)
Case Study: Gapminder Lab: Building a rudimentary data scraper (Visualize This Ch. 2) – Optional (I have decided it would not be a good idea to inflict python on the group but if anyone wants to take a stab at this on their own, they can – I will be posting a tutorial using an alternate, more straightforward web-based workflow in the coming weeks)
Week 4 | Sept 29th Tools & techniques What are popular tools for visualization? How do you choose the right tool/platform for the job?
Guest Speaker: William J. Turkel
Required reading: "The encyclopaedic fragementation of knowledge as theatre" (Hannah Hurtzig interview) in Designing Universal Knowledge (pg. 128-133) PDF Visualize This: Choosing Tools to Visualize Data (Ch. 3)
Recommended Reading: The Information Design Handbook: Aesthetic Principles for ID (Ch. 6)
Lab: Visualization tool survey I
Week 5 | Oct. 6th Timelines What are some common approaches to representing time in information design?
Required reading:
"The surge of simplicity in a complex world" (Markus Frenzi interview) in Designing Universal Knowledge (pg. 221-228) PDF Visualize This: Visualizing Patterns over Time (Ch. 4)
Case Study: Feltron Annual Report
Lab: Basic graphing in R (Visualize This Ch. 4)
Week 6 | Oct. 13th Visualizing networks How do we create coherent maps of networks? Design pin-up: 21st century baseball card
Required reading:
Manuel Lima - "Decoding Networks" in Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information (pg. 72-95) PDF Visualize This: Visualizing Relationships (Ch. 6)
Recommended Reading: The Information Design Handbook: Case Studies: Understand (Ch. 9)
Case Study: Cascade
Seminars: Student presentations
Lab: Intermediate graphing in R (Visualize This Ch. 6)
Week 7 | Oct. 20th Performative data How might we move 'beyond the screen' and use data to drive creative expression?
Required reading:
Mitchell Whitelaw - "Art Against Information: Case Studies in Data Practice" in Fibreculture Visualize This: Spotting Differences (Ch. 7)
Case Study: Stock Market Skirt
Seminars: Student presentations
Lab: Heat maps, star charts & parallel coordinate plots (Visualize This Ch. 7)
Week 8 | Oct. 27th Spatial Relationships Where does visualization stop and cartography begin? How do we map events and relationships spatially?
Required reading:
Mark Monmonier - "Maps for Political Propaganda" in How to Lie with Maps (pg. 87-112) PDF
Jeremy Crampton - "What is Critical Cartography and GIS?" in Mapping (pg. 39-48) PDF Visualize This: Visualizing Spatial Relationships (Ch. 8)
Recommended Reading: The Information Design Handbook: Case Studies: Locate (Ch. 7)
Ken Garland - Mr. Beck's Underground Map (pg. 7-49) PDF I/II
Case Study: Million Dollar Blocks, OpenStreetMap 101
Seminars: Student presentations
Lab: Plotting points, lines and regions (Visualize This Ch. 8)
Week 9 | Nov. 3rd Design - best practices What constitutes good information design? Case study due
Required reading:
Sara Diamond "Lenticular Galaxies: The Polyvalent Aesthetics of Data Visualization" in CTheory
Alan Liu - "Information is Style" in The Laws of Cool (pg. 195-230) PDF Visualize This: Designing with a Purpose (Ch. 9)
Case Study: On the Origin of Species: The Preservation of Favoured Traces
Lab: Visualization tool survey II
Week 10 | Nov. 10th Big data/open data How are massive datasets changing scholarship? How might 'open' data change our habits and civic engagement?
Week 11 | Nov. 17th Data journalism, real time informatics What are the similarities between visualization and journalism?
Required reading:
Ian Bogost, Simon Ferrari & Bobby Schweizer - "Infographics" in Newsgames (pg. 35-60) PDF
Case Study: Selection of work from the New York Times Graphics Department
Lab: Final project work session
Week 12 | Nov. 24th Design Pin-up: Data visualization (final projects) The group will pin up/project final assignments and critique the body of work that has been produced.
Introduction to information visualization
What is information visualization and what is at stake?
Required reading:
Paola Antonelli - "States of Design 01: Visualization"in Domus
Recommended Reading:
The Information Design Handbook: A need for Information Design, Information Design Defined (Ch. 1&2)
Week 2 | Sept. 15th
A brief history of visualization
How does information visualization extend out of traditional graphic design and visual communication?
Required reading:
Edward Tufte "Graphical Practice" in The Visual Display of Quantiative Information (pg. 13-51) PDF
Stephen Wolfram - "Advance of the Data Civilization: A Timeline"
Visualize This: Telling Stories With Data (Ch. 1)
Recommended Reading:
The Information Design Handbook: ID History (Ch. 3)
Case Study: The Minard Map
Week 3 | Sept. 22nd
Handling data
What is data? What are the protocols and common formats we will encounter in working with it?
Required reading:
David Levy - "Meditation on a Receipt" in Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in a Digital Age (pg. 7-20) PDF
Alan Liu - "Transcendental Data: Toward a Cultural History and Aesthetics of the New Encoded Discourse" in Local Transcendence (pg 209-236) PDF
Visualize This: Handling Data (Ch. 2)
Recommended Reading:
The Information Design Handbook: Communication Principles for ID (Ch. 5)
Case Study: Gapminder
Lab: Building a rudimentary data scraper (Visualize This Ch. 2) – Optional (I have decided it would not be a good idea to inflict python on the group but if anyone wants to take a stab at this on their own, they can – I will be posting a tutorial using an alternate, more straightforward web-based workflow in the coming weeks)
Week 4 | Sept 29th
Tools & techniques
What are popular tools for visualization? How do you choose the right tool/platform for the job?
Guest Speaker: William J. Turkel
Required reading:
"The encyclopaedic fragementation of knowledge as theatre" (Hannah Hurtzig interview) in Designing Universal Knowledge (pg. 128-133) PDF
Visualize This: Choosing Tools to Visualize Data (Ch. 3)
Recommended Reading:
The Information Design Handbook: Aesthetic Principles for ID (Ch. 6)
Lab: Visualization tool survey I
Week 5 | Oct. 6th
Timelines
What are some common approaches to representing time in information design?
Required reading:
"The surge of simplicity in a complex world" (Markus Frenzi interview) in Designing Universal Knowledge (pg. 221-228) PDF
Visualize This: Visualizing Patterns over Time (Ch. 4)
Case Study: Feltron Annual Report
Lab: Basic graphing in R (Visualize This Ch. 4)
Week 6 | Oct. 13th
Visualizing networks
How do we create coherent maps of networks?
Design pin-up: 21st century baseball card
Required reading:
Manuel Lima - "Decoding Networks" in Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information (pg. 72-95) PDF
Visualize This: Visualizing Relationships (Ch. 6)
Recommended Reading:
The Information Design Handbook: Case Studies: Understand (Ch. 9)
Case Study: Cascade
Seminars: Student presentations
Lab: Intermediate graphing in R (Visualize This Ch. 6)
Week 7 | Oct. 20th
Performative data
How might we move 'beyond the screen' and use data to drive creative expression?
Required reading:
Mitchell Whitelaw - "Art Against Information: Case Studies in Data Practice" in Fibreculture
Visualize This: Spotting Differences (Ch. 7)
Case Study: Stock Market Skirt
Seminars: Student presentations
Lab: Heat maps, star charts & parallel coordinate plots (Visualize This Ch. 7)
Week 8 | Oct. 27th
Spatial Relationships
Where does visualization stop and cartography begin? How do we map events and relationships spatially?
Required reading:
Mark Monmonier - "Maps for Political Propaganda" in How to Lie with Maps (pg. 87-112) PDF
Jeremy Crampton - "What is Critical Cartography and GIS?" in Mapping (pg. 39-48) PDF
Visualize This: Visualizing Spatial Relationships (Ch. 8)
Recommended Reading:
The Information Design Handbook: Case Studies: Locate (Ch. 7)
Ken Garland - Mr. Beck's Underground Map (pg. 7-49) PDF I/II
Case Study: Million Dollar Blocks, OpenStreetMap 101
Seminars: Student presentations
Lab: Plotting points, lines and regions (Visualize This Ch. 8)
Week 9 | Nov. 3rd
Design - best practices
What constitutes good information design?
Case study due
Required reading:
Sara Diamond "Lenticular Galaxies: The Polyvalent Aesthetics of Data Visualization" in CTheory
Alan Liu - "Information is Style" in The Laws of Cool (pg. 195-230) PDF
Visualize This: Designing with a Purpose (Ch. 9)
Case Study: On the Origin of Species: The Preservation of Favoured Traces
Lab: Visualization tool survey II
Week 10 | Nov. 10th
Big data/open data
How are massive datasets changing scholarship? How might 'open' data change our habits and civic engagement?
Required reading:
Lev Manovich - "What is Visualization?" PDF
Fabien Girardin - "Data City: A Text for Visual Complexity, the book"
Case Study: Cultural Analytics
Lab: Final project work session
Week 11 | Nov. 17th
Data journalism, real time informatics
What are the similarities between visualization and journalism?
Required reading:
Ian Bogost, Simon Ferrari & Bobby Schweizer - "Infographics" in Newsgames (pg. 35-60) PDF
Case Study: Selection of work from the New York Times Graphics Department
Lab: Final project work session
Week 12 | Nov. 24th
Design Pin-up: Data visualization (final projects)
The group will pin up/project final assignments and critique the body of work that has been produced.